Short Interest in Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) Decreases By 17.6%

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a drop of 17.6% from the February 13th total of 2,390,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 503,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sunoco

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Sunoco by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,191,570 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $117,644,000 after acquiring an additional 455,361 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 908,833.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 436,288 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $23,419,000 after purchasing an additional 436,240 shares during the period. ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 223.7% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 513,715 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,426,000 after purchasing an additional 355,000 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sunoco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,739,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Sunoco by 32,166.5% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 231,351 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,137,000 after purchasing an additional 230,634 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SUN shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Sunoco from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.67.

Sunoco Price Performance

Shares of Sunoco stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $58.55. 321,312 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 491,069. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.24. Sunoco has a 12 month low of $49.45 and a 12 month high of $62.55.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.48 by ($0.73). Sunoco had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 22.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sunoco will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.8865 per share. This represents a $3.55 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.06%. This is a positive change from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Sunoco’s payout ratio is presently 53.64%.

Sunoco Company Profile

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, distributes and retails motor fuels in the United States. It operates through two segments: Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel, as well as other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil from independent refiners and oil companies and supplies it to company-operated retail stores, independently operated commission agents, and retail stores, as well as other commercial customers, including unbranded retail stores, other fuel distributors, school districts, municipalities, and other industrial customers.